merrill newman's flight touching down a short time ago. you can listen to the release in his voice. >> it's been a great homecoming and i'm tired but it was my family now -- and thank you all for the support we got. very much appreciate it. >> we have been covering this story. >> behind merrill newman there, you could see his wife lee and also his son jeff who had been appealing for his release. merrill himself looked in pretty good shape. he said he was tired but considering he's 85 years old and the ordeal he's been now, he looked like he's doing pretty well. one of the first things he wanted to say was really to thank the diplomatic effort that got him released. take a listen. >> i'm delighted to be home. i want to thank the swedish embassy in pyongyang and the american embassy in beijing for all their help. >> it was the swedes who acted on behalf of the united states toish ish initiate discussionse north koreans about getting him free. helped by the fact that u.s. vice president joe biden was on the ground this weekend. apparently the